People¸ especially voters, are getting fed up with government --- at all levels. Partisan bickering is getting us nowhere.

Alderman, county board members, state delegates, congressmen seem to think they must hang tough --- cleave to the party lines. Compromise is for losers, for guys and gals who end up supping at their own expense and not at the public trough.

So what if debt piles up. So potholes don’t get filled. So what if jails get overcrowded.

So what if it’s easier to ask whether your opponent has stopped beating his wife than question his support for higher ­– or lower – tax rates.

Nothing will change until voters and votes recognize and fulfill the requirements of the general system of government in the United States of America. That system is the regular election of surrogates to take on the solution of common problems. In a nutshell, self-government is that.

Sure there are differences among the various levels of government. Basically, however, the elected are in office to represent the electors and their needs, which include defining the needs and limiting them to what can be done only by government, all with the consent of the governed. That basic idea of representative government has somehow become fuzzy in application.

Here could be listed example after example. To be fair and to reinforce the point, such examples would have to alternate between the political parties, and the examples would have to carry equal weight. Any attempt to do that would set off ennui in most readers, thus impairing this argument.

And the real argument? It is this: Until officeholders practice the basic idea of self-government, and voters demand that they do, deadlock will continue.

Any chance of that happening? Will aldermen, trustees, county board members, congressmen actually forget about their petty political futures and then to duty?

Not until office holding is considered a civic duty rather than a career. Not until voters consider their ballots thoughtful suggestions for what is good for their communities, state or country rather than ways of getting something for themselves. In turn, elected officials should be casting their votes (or neglecting to) for the sake of the common good and nota what’s-in-it-for-men grab.

Idealism? You bet.

What’s wrong in at least asking, why not do it right?